Izanami

 In Shinto and Japanese mythology, Izanami gave humans death, so Izanami is sometimes seen as the first shinigami.

"In Japanese spirituality, it is the heavenly kami who are at work in the earthly creation. In order not to leave the world empty, these protective deities gave birth to two new gods and goddesses: Izanami and Izanagi. The responsibilities of this cosmic couple are titanic. Their duty is to spread the life of the Japanese people all over the globe. Before they appeared, only the earth and the sky existed. Therefore, they were also required to shape the territories and landscapes.  

To ensure the success of this ambitious task, this courageous duo was given an object with monumental power. This was a spear adorned with countless precious jewels. It contained a tremendous creative power. Simply pointing the spear at the desired location was enough to create an island. This is exactly what happened when, from a celestial bridge, our two protagonists brought into existence the very first land of Japan: the Onogoro Island.

Working hand in hand established a fusional bond between the two valiant builders. Eventually they fell in love with each other. The Goddess Izanami then wanted to invite her beloved to conceive a majestic bloodline. This they did, but the nuptial episode quickly turned into a disaster. 

The union gave birth to three ugly and ill-formed creatures. This was simply divine punishment. For it was in no way the role of the female deity to engage the initiative. They then tried a second time, drawing the right lesson from their recent failure. With the gods no longer angry, a whole new generation of deities was born. As a result, Izanami became pregnant again. On the day of the birth, an unfortunate incident occurred... 

At the end of the childbirth, the Nipponese god Kagutsuchi came into the world. He is the deity of fire. 🔥 The birth of this fiery being caused the immediate death of his mother.

After this macabre misadventure, the deceased went to Yomi after her funeral. This is a subterranean world where one is found after death. Still madly in love, Izanagi refused to accept this sad fate. He then made the decision to go on a quest for her, with the goal of bringing her back among the living. He clearly didn't know what to expect when he set foot in this place. Once there, he quickly realized that everything was hellish. Monstrous and immortal demons called "Shikome " populate this dark land. Other dirty creatures such as the Yokai curse this unclean place. 

Following several harrowing hours of walking, the lover finally found his soul mate. She was in the dark. It was impossible for Izanagi to make out her features. As a solution, he illuminated her by pointing his lamp in her direction. The light revealed a new nightmare. His sweetheart was in a serious state of decomposition. The putrid odor was obliterating the divine character that once animated this noble body. If she was condemned to such a miserable fate, it was for a very specific reason: she had fed on the fruits of the dark world. This is a grave sin, from which comes a radical punishment. Whoever tastes it blames himself for spending eternity in this hell, in this state of carrion. 

In a deep state of disgust, the inconsolable widower wanted to abandon his fallen love. The vile thing took this as an unforgivable betrayal. Taken of a mad rage, she did not count for nothing in the world, to let him leave. Without a moment's hesitation, she demanded that her apocalyptic henchmen go after him. In order to get away unharmed, Izanagi ran at full speed. In order to lose the evil troops, he condemned the entrance to the shrine of the underworld of torment with a huge rock, weighing several tons. Leaving the new ruler of the abyss imprisoned forever. " - kimurakami.com

Watercolor, gouache and ink on 10x14 100% cotton hot press paper.